Stop Smoking Infographic

Many different strategies can be used for smoking cessation, including abruptly quitting without assistance (“cold turkey”), cutting down then quitting, behavioral counseling, and medications such as bupropion, cytisine, nicotine replacement therapy, or varenicline. Most smokers who try to quit do so without assistance, though only 3% to 6% of quit attempts without assistance are successful long-term. Behavioral counseling and medications each increase the rate of successfully quitting smoking, and a combination of behavioral counseling with a medication such as bupropion is more effective than either intervention alone. A meta-analysis from 2018, conducted on 61 RCT, showed that one year after people quit smoking with the assistance of first line smoking cessation medications (and some behavioral help), only approximately 20% of them sustained abstinent, as compared to around 12% who did not take medication.